If This Is Hell (I'd Go Through Worse for You)
by emmaswna
Summary: One shot. Takes place in the underworld (diverging from the main plot of the show a bit). I've had this headcannon stuck in my head where Emma and Killian have a wedding similar to Elizabeth and Will in Pirates of the Caribbean, so I took that idea and ran with it. Enjoy!


As it turns out, Hades has a seemingly unlimited supply of skeleton warriors. It also turns out that these skeleton warriors cannot be killed, only delayed for a few moments by swords and arrows. And to make matters even _better_ , every single one of these boney minions is hot on their trail as they weave their way out of hell

Emma had wanted to refer to it as the underworld at first (because that's what it's supposed to be), but no. This is _hell_. She can't take one step without hearing ghosts in her head, whispering to her about their lost lives as she pasts by. She can't use her magic; neither can Regina or Gold (not that Gold matters anymore, that problem was solved.) Something about the atmosphere doesn't sit right with their charmed abilities. All traces of any of them having magic were wiped away the second they stepped foot into the Underworld – _hell_. She's been forced to interact with people from her past she never thought she'd see again (and never _wanted_ to see again.) She's had to endure Hades' mind games, his deception and then his betrayal and she is more than ready to go home.

She feels a rough hand squeeze hers and looks down at their interlaced fingers (real, warm, _alive_ , pulsing fingers.)  
Well, maybe _one_ good thing has come from this trip.

She looks up from their extremities to his face. His actual face. Not his face in one of her dreams, or his face through a projection, his pirate, smirking, beautiful, lovely, real face. He flashes that cheeky grin to Emma, the stupid one that he always saves for her (just her), because he knows how ridiculous it is, and how much it makes her heart melt), and she is suddenly filled with a new energy to get home with this man, and start their rest of her lives together (along with her son, her parents and the rest of her crazy extended family.)

She looks past Killian at the newest edition to her family: his long lost brother, Liam. She gives him a smile, and he nods in return. Killian catches their small exchange and she swears he has stars in his eyes.

 _Emma is bouncing from soul to soul. She's describing Killian to all the drifting wraiths and asking if they've seen him. She walks up to a middle aged man, failing to notice his appearance in her frazzled state. She immediately begins to describe Killian to him, waving her arms more with every word, tension flooding her voice. Before she has even finished her detailed description of the former pirate, the man engulfs her in a hug._

 _"So you're her! You're Emma!" He exclaims while hugging her so tightly, he is unintentionally cutting off her air supply._  
 _She laughs anxiously, uncertain of what is happening, and replies, "Yeah, I'm Emma. Can I ask who you are..?" He releases her from his embrace, and holds out his hand. She shakes it._

 _"The name's Liam, milady. Liam Jones!" Emma stops breathing. She looks at the man's face, really looks, and is hit with familiarity. His dark, tousled, hair is just like Killian's, except curlier. His eyes are the same piercing blue. He's wearing a Navy uniform the color of the sea that compliments them._

 _"You're Liam? Liam Jones? Killian's brother?" Emma says, through short breaths._

 _"Aye that I am." Emma smiles as wide as she can, tears beginning to pool in her eyes._

 _"I can't believe I'm meeting you, Killian talks so much about you…or…he used to…he gave me your ring…" Emma looks down at the small object and holds it up for him to see. The tears start to flow out of her eyes and Liam grips her arm to comfort her._

 _"How do you know who I am? Have you seen him?" Emma asks, suddenly focused on her mission once again._

 _"Aye, I've seen him. After we had our reunion you've been all he's talked about. I was hoping I'd get to meet you, Emma. With all the stories my brother told me about how you two care for each other, I couldn't imagine a situation where you wouldn't find each other again." Liam smiles, a big toothy grin. Emma lets the tears flow freely down her face, relief flooding her entire body, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. She laughs like a child on an amusement ride. She finally found a strand of hope in this dismal place. A link to Killian. A link to her true love. Her happy ending._

 _"Come, let's go get him," Liam says. He grabs her arm and steers her in the right direction as she beckons her family to follow._

"If we hurry, I think we'll be able to make it back up the staircase before the skeleton's catch up to us," Emma hears her father say.

"Well, we really don't have any other option but to try that, do we?" Regina replies.

"We could always stop and fight them, between all of us I'm sure we could hold them..." Robin begins.

Her mother cuts him off, "Hold them off long enough for what? Not possible. We have to get out of here as quickly as we can."

"I'm afraid the princess is right," Liam states, "There's no way to stop them. Believe me, I've seen them in action. Your best bet is to run as fast as you can up that staircase and never look back." Killian deflates at this. As happy as he is to be returning home with Emma, leaving the Underworld also means saying goodbye to his beloved brother. _Again_.

Before they even have a chance to head towards the stairway or think about goodbyes, they're surrounded. The skeletons _literally_ rise out of the ground (rise out of a lower level of _literal hell_ ) and encircle them. Emma frantically glances around, searching the faces of her loved ones. She sees Henry a few feet away from her and pulls him to her side.

"Well, looks like you're right after all," Regina grimaces, glancing at Robin, "We're going to have to fight our way out of this one." Slowly but surely they all unleash their weapons. Her mother and Robin pull out bows and arrows, while the rest of them reach for swords as the skeletons close in.

Bare bones collide with metal in a fury, and Emma grits her teeth at the sound. Her and Killian let go of each other and circle around Henry. They all become a wild force of energy, slashing and shooting at any skeleton they see. Emma gets lost in the madness, sucked into the storm of bones and marrow. She sees nothing but the haze of frames stumbling towards her, and she takes them down with a swipe of her sword before they reform again, moments later. She's lost in it all, tears streaming down her face, but this time they're tears of anger. She did _not_ come this far to have her happy ending taken away from her; especially so close to the end of her journey.

Through her cloud of combat, she hears Killian scream her name. At first, panic strikes through her body like lightening, as she thinks he's gotten hurt again. But when she looks back at his dim-lit figure, she finds that he's more than holding his own against the skeletons. In fact, him, Henry and Liam all stand with their backs against each other, slashing at the bare corpses.

"Emma!" He screams again, and she looks into his sapphire blue eyes, "Will you marry me?"

"What!?" She screams back, her eyes widening, voice straining over the clatter and chaos.

" _Will you marry me?_ " He repeats, and she sees beads of sweat mixed with salty tears rolling down his face.

"I don't think now is the best time!" She screams back, trying to inch her way across the sea of disheveled bones to get back to him.

"It might be the only time, love," He yells, and she hears the strain and worry in his voice. She hears the panic creeping in. The thought that maybe this rescue mission won't work after all.

She thinks about all they've been through: Neverland, a time lapse, a wicked witch, a trip to the past, Snow Queens and Queens of Darkness, _the_ darkness, and now hell.

He's proven that he loves her time and time again, and she damn sure feels the same way. And it occurs to her that it's absolutely absurd they aren't married yet. They're true love. They're planning to spend the rest of their lives together in a big, beautiful home. Why not be married too?

"Yes!" She cries into the air, "Liam!" The captain looks to her over his sword as he slices a skeleton head off its neck, "Marry us!" she screams.

He smiles, "I thought you'd never ask!"

All the yelling has caught the attention of the rest of the group; they all glance back and forth between Emma and Killian as they fight for their lives. Henry looks at Emma and gives her the widest smile she's ever seen on his face. Her mother makes teary eye contact with her, and gives her a knowing smile. Her father knocks a skeleton over with a kick of his leg and then looks up at her with a shining beam, giving one nod of his head in approval. Regina and Robin stand side-by-side fighting off the demons, but take a second to look up at her and give the best smile they can muster.

Liam begins, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today..." while dodging the grasp of boney fingers. He rambles through the service as Emma and Killian slash away at skeletons, making a path to each other, never losing eye contact. Green on blue. The two colors of the sea. Tossing and turning into each other, forever.

"Emma Swan!" Killian shouts, when Liam stops his speech for their vows. His fingertips brush her hand, as they finally reach each other. He grabs her and pulls her close. She grabs his hook, and the both lower their swords to the ground, their faces inches apart, "Do you take me, Killian Jones, to be your husband?"

Emma pushes away from him (while still holding tightly on to his hook as if it were her lifeline,) shoving him to the side. She dismembers a skeleton that was about to jump on his back. "I do!" She says, a whisper light as she turns back around to look at him. "Do you, Killian Jones –" he yanks her out of the way and crumbles a skeleton with the tip of his sword, "–Take me, Emma Swan, to be your wife, in sickness and in health…" An arrow flies over their heads and pierces a skull; "With health being the less likely?" She finishes the question through labored breaths and spins herself around to slash another boney body.

"I do, of course I do!" Killian says, with more passion than she has ever heard in his voice before.

"You may kiss the bride!" Liam yells with a grunt, as he pushes a skeleton off of himself.

They find each other once again in the pandemonium, and in an instant she's pulled against his chest and his lips crash against hers. The world falls around them, but in this moment, his warm, tingling lips are her world, and they keep her steady enough to kiss him harder in the chaos.


End file.
